Country viewers to miss FreeviewPlus after it's shunned by broadcasters

Madeleine Heffernan

Country Australia will get reduced features on free-to-air broadcasters' broadband play, because regional TV companies Prime Media and WIN have shunned the service.

Steve Allen, of media analysis firm Fusion Strategy, said the absence of Prime and WIN was a ''setback for viewers outside metro areas'' and shows that ''regional networks are dragging their heels on digital''.

The internet television service, FreeviewPlus, combines traditional broadcasting and internet video on one screen. It is widely seen as the broadcasters' response to online content, pay TV operator Foxtel and Apple TV.

Expected to be launched by August, the platform allows viewers to catch up on programs broadcast up to a week previously on channels Seven, Nine, Ten, the ABC and SBS. It is unusual in that it is the product of co-operation between the broadcasters.

But regional TV company Prime Media - which broadcasts in Western Australia, NSW, Victoria and the Gold Coast - recently withdrew from the project, arguing it would reach just 1 per cent of its market in early 2015.

The platform will be available on new smart TVs but requires an upgrade or new set-top box for older models.

Prime joined regional TV company WIN - which broadcasts in Western Australia, NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Canberra - in shunning the project.

The two companies' absence means viewers of Prime Media and WIN will only have access to internet-enabled content from the ABC, SBS and Southern Cross Austereo. Viewers in northern NSW and regional Queensland will get full access through NBN Television and Seven Queensland respectively.

Freeview general manager Liz Ross said she did not have figures on what percentage of country Australians would have the full suite of products, in light of Prime and WIN's absence. She noted that the take-up of the service depended on broadband access.

Rhys Holleran, chief executive of the third regional broadcaster, Southern Cross Austereo, said recently his company was ''broadly supportive with how it's [FreeviewPlus] going and the rollout''.